


questions without an answer

by SunshineScorpius



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Brotherly Bonding, Gen, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Potter Siblings, Protective Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:09:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25309516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunshineScorpius/pseuds/SunshineScorpius
Summary: James is given a fright when his little brother ends up in the hospital wing and acting rather strange. Albus seems to refuse to believe he was in Gryffindor, doesn't want to talk to James, and keeps mumbling something about a time-turner in his sleep. James simply had to get to the bottom of this.Set in the first AU of Cursed Child
Relationships: Albus Severus Potter & James Sirius Potter, Albus Severus Potter & Lily Luna Potter, Scorpius Malfoy & Albus Severus Potter
Comments: 14
Kudos: 41





	questions without an answer

“When do you think he’ll wake up?” Lily Luna asked, her chin rested in her hands, her elbows propped up on the end of Albus’ bed, watching him with boredom. 

James watched as his mum stroked Lily’s hair, chewing on her bottom lip before answering. “Madame Pomfrey says he’ll wake up soon, it’s just a sleeping draught.” Her voice was calm, but James wasn’t stupid, he could see she was worried. Maybe not just about Albus being in the hospital wing, but the reason why he ran away from school in the first place.

“Delphi… time… turner-” Albus mumbled, causing every member of the Potter family to stand up and watch him closely. James took Albus’ hand in his and gently squeezed it. “Dad…” then he fell silent again, and James’ heart dropped.

“Where did he go, mum?” James asked, looking at his mum with hope for answers.

His mum shrugged. “We don’t know yet.”

“Has anyone spoken to Scorpius?” James asked, wondering why the blonde wasn’t at Albus’ side - it’s where he usually was.

“No one is speaking to Scorpius,” his dad said, announcing his arrival. Lily scrunched her face and looked at their dad. But before she could ask any questions, their dad continued. “Albus should be waking up soon, I think maybe you two should get back to class.”

“But dad-”

“Please, I’d like to speak with him when he wakes,” Harry said, interrupting both Lily and James’ objections.

Lily crossed her arms, stubborn as anything, but relented when James held his hand out for her to take. She looked between him and their dad, then once more back at Albus, before taking James’ hand and allowing him to lead her out of the hospital wing. They walked in silence, worry settled between them, not knowing how to speak with these big unanswered questions between them.

Where had Albus gone? Why had he gone? What happened whilst he was gone? Is it because of the argument with his dad? Is it because he hates school? And most importantly: could they have stopped him if they had tried to be better siblings?

So many questions, so little answers. And one question that James wasn’t sure he wanted the answer to.

James walked Lily back to her class, giving her a kiss on the temple in goodbye before heading back to his own class, finding himself unable to listen to the importance of imagination when casting the conjuring charm.

#

James never expected Albus to be out of the hospital wing so soon, which is why it was a pleasant surprise when he walked into the Gryffindor common room after dinner to find him sitting in the far corner. His legs were pulled up to his chest as he wrote a letter furiously, his hand moving so quickly James was sure the parchment would catch fire.

James caught eyes with Lily Luna who was sitting playing gobstones with her friends, but she just shrugged at him and smiled sadly. Albus hadn’t spoken to her and if he knew Lily, he knew she definitely tried. James walked the length of the common room and pulled out another chair at the table he was sat at. 

He noticed tear stains on his brother's cheeks. His robes and tie were a crumbled mess on the floor, where no doubt he’d torn them off in frustration. James wondered if Harry had made the same rule for Albus as he had for James and Lily: no talking to Scorpius. That would harm Albus a significant amount, Al never had any other friends.

“Hey,” James spoke in his best upbeat tune.

Albus barely looked up at him before looking back down, pulling the parchment away from James’ eye. Not that James would ever intrude on something so personal. 

“How’s the arm?” James asked.

Albus looked at it, turning it over a few times and clenching and unclenching his fist. “Fine,” he mumbled.

“Al,” James leaned forward. “What’s going on, are you okay?”

It seemed like that question just made Albus snap. “Why am I here?”

James wasn’t exactly sure how to answer the question. He mulled over it, fiddling with his glasses as he searched for the answer that would satisfy Albus. “Because, your life means something and-”

“No, James,” he interrupted, sounding exasperated. “Why am I in Gryffindor?”

James scrunched his face. “Because… you were sorted here?”

Albus sighed loudly and ran a frustrated hand through his messy hair. “No, I wasn’t! I was sorted into Slytherin, like Scorpius.”

James wasn’t sure if Albus was being serious or going delusional. He was a Gryffindor, he’d always been a Gryffindor, despite what James used to tease him about. James had to admit he was shocked when the sorting hat called out Gryffindor as opposed to Slytherin, but now Albus rather suited red. And Albus was a Potter and a Weasley - of course he belonged in Gryffindor.

“Whatever,” Albus said, standing up and shoving the letter he was writing in his bag. He grabbed his scrunched up robes and hugged them to his chest. Albus began walking off, but reached the stairs and froze. He turned back to James and hugged the robes tighter. “Where’s my dorm?”

As confused as James was at the question, he showed Albus his dorm nonetheless. Maybe he’d hit his head really hard, that could explain the discombobulation. 

#

James woke a little earlier than usual the next day. He took the extra time to look over his Transfiguration essay again before changing for school and heading down to the Great Hall. He bumped into Lily on the way who joined him on the walk. She expressed brief concern about Albus, but mostly spoke about her Herbology project that their Uncle Neville had her focusing on.

They sat down at the Gryffindor table, piling foods onto their plates, waiting for Albus to come join them. He did eventually and James made sure he had a coffee waiting for him.

“Morning sunshine,” James greeted, but Albus was preoccupied with looking around the Great Hall. Albus slowly took a seat, eyes everywhere but at James or Lily or what was right in front of him. After moments of searching, he gave up and took a sip of the coffee.

“Have you seen Scorpius?” he eventually asked.

“Afraid not,” James answered as Lily shook her head. Albus slumped a little.

“Oh,” Lily said, tapping Albus on the shoulder then pointing at the entrance to the Great Hall. Standing there was Scorpius, looking tired even from this distance. He was staring directly at Albus and Albus was staring back and James felt like he was intruding on a very private silent conversation. Scorpius took a minute step forward, Albus shook his head, then Scorpius turned and walked out of the Great Hall, gone as though he was never even there. 

“I should go,” Albus mumbled. “Find Rose before Defence Against the Dark Arts.”

“Who’s Rose?” Lily asked, but Albus had already packed up his things and all but ran from the Great Hall. Lily turned back to James. “Does he have a friend named Rose?”

“Not one that I’m aware of,” James replied, just as confused. As far as he knew, Scorpius was Albus’ only friend.

Lily slumped in her seat. “Why is dad keeping them apart?”

“I don’t know, Lils,” he answered, wishing he could give her more. He decided then he was going to find Scorpius and see if he knew why Albus was acting strange and why his dad wanted to separate the two of them.

#

James couldn’t find Scorpius for a few days, which was strange. Usually the other boy could be found in the library, but he didn’t appear to be there at all until a few days after Albus had returned from… wherever the hell he went.

Scorpius was sitting at the very back behind a very tall pile of books - James had almost missed him. He pulled up a chair opposite him, causing Scorpius to jump a little and pull the book he was reading close to his chest. James looked at the giant pile, wondering why Scorpius was researching time-turners and alternate universes. 

Scorpius stared at him for a moment, blinked, then said, “you know this is the library, right?”

James scrunched his nose, unsure if Scorpius was making a joke or not. “Oh shoot, this isn’t the Quidditch pitch?” James joked, relieved when Scorpius cracked a smile. “I was looking for you actually.”

“Well, you found me. I wasn’t exactly hiding.”

“I was just wondering if everything… you know, is okay with Albus?”

Panic lit up in Scorpius’ eyes. “Albus? Why wouldn’t anything be okay? Has he said something?”

“No, I was sort of hoping he had said something to you,” James explained.

Scorpius slumped his shoulders. “Albus won’t talk to me, I don’t know why.”

“Oh,” James said. He knew that Harry had ordered the two of them to stay apart, but he never expected Albus to go along with it. Al was the rebellious one of all the Potter kids, the one who argued and was stubborn. This was a request that James was sure Albus would never follow, which makes the fact that he did even more curious. 

James stood to leave, telling Scorpius he’ll let him get back to… whatever it was he was doing.

“James,” he called as he was about to go, “whatever it is, don’t worry, I’ll figure it out. It’s what I do best.”

James could only nod.

#

_ Hi, dad! _

_ It’s James, your favourite male child (as soon as I figure out how to get rid of Lily, I’ll be the all time favourite child, muwahahahaha).  _

_ Anyway, I was actually just writing about Albus, I’m a little worried about him. He seems more reclusive than usual and also, why are you stopping him from seeing his best friend? Scorpius is one of the only things that make him happy at this school, so I really hope you have a good reason for taking that away from him. I was hoping you could tell me a little more about why he’s acting like this so I could try and help him. _

_ Other than that, everything's fine here! Tell mum I love her. _

_ Love you dad, _

_ James _

#

James had memorised the titles of some of the books he’d found Scorpius reading in the library and checked them out. He had spent the weekend reading them, knee-deep in coffee and paper as he tried to figure out what was so important about these books and why Albus was mumbling about a time-turner and something called a Delphi in his sleep.

By lunchtime on Monday morning, James was so tired he decided to skip lunch in favour of a nap. On the way from the dungeons and up to the Gryffindor common room, he saw Scorpius in a frantic run towards the library, too tired to ask him what was going on.

James reached his dorm and all but collapsed onto his bed, picking up one of the books to bore himself to sleep. He could feel himself getting closer, figuring out what led Albus and Scorpius away from school that day on the train and why they’d supposedly come back. He just needed Albus to open up to him a little more and maybe he’d tell him something. He promised himself he would speak to Albus at dinner as he slowly closed his eyes.

But he needn’t have worried about dinner, for James Sirius Potter would not wake.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are welcome, I would love to hear your thoughts!


End file.
